A lot of people seemed to think Jake Ellenberger didn’t quite look like himself his last time out. Ellenberger is in that camp, and he plans on doing something about it.

Against Rory MacDonald in July, Ellenberger was jabbed to a unanimous decision loss at UFC on FOX 7, and over 15 minutes he didn’t offer much in the way of a response. But Ellenberger believes those days are over.

Saffiedine is making his UFC debut after a long layoff following his move over from Strikeforce, but Ellenberger isn’t taking his opponent lightly.

“Every fight, there’s a lot at stake,” Ellenberger recently told MMAjunkie in Las Vegas. “Tarec’s here for a reason. He’s fighting at this level for a reason. There’s no easy fight in the UFC. He’s tough, and I can control what I can control – and I’ve got to get back to my old style, which is a lot more aggressive. I hate losing more than anything in the world and I’ve got to use that to motivate me for training to move me forward to the next fight.”